Jack's Birthday!

Jack is five!

We landed in St. George the evening of June 4 and everyone actually slept that night (except for Carson) so they could be awake the next day for Jack's birthday! My parents and Mike were awake first so they went to sac. mtg. at my parent's ward, then Mike and I took everyone else (except Carson) to church at Katherine's ward (Mike's sister). Carson was the only one who couldn't sleep and was up watching TV until 4:00am. That's jet-lag for ya...everyone's body seems to handle it differently!

Anyway, Jack was so lucky to have a party in St. George with lots of his cousins there! Uncle Steve's whole family drove down from Enoch, Utah and Aunt Katherine's family just moved to St. George a few months ago so they were able to come! Also, Jane & Grandad drove up from San Diego and surprised our kids for the party!

Jack really wanted a bowling party so Grandma Cecil found him a sweet bowling-themed cake!





Skylar liked Jack's party too...even though she wasn't allowed any cake! She'll have to wait another month until she turns 1!

Jack got some cool presents too: bey blades and a remote-control 4X4!





Bailey, Paige and Isabelle had some time for a sweet Taylor Swift dance party.






Then we spent the evening playing on the most beautiful grass EVER! The kids ran around chasing rabbits all over the golf course. They also had races and just enjoyed running and playing on GRASS without worrying about sweating like crazy (two things you can't do in Singapore.)






Uncle DJ insisted on catching a rabbit. He finally did but the rabbit was not alive...don't think that counts.





Cute photo of DJ, Kath and two of their kids- Janie and Jill - who would agree to be in the photo!



How can you resist this boy? When he wants to be.. he is a sweetheart!



Cousin David does sweet head stands!



Cousin Janie has her own style:



It was great to have both sets of grandparents there for one of our kids b-day parties...don't think that had ever happened before!





Thanks Jack-Jack for having a birthday! We sure love you!!!

Day 12 of summer 2011

We left Singapore on June 4 for our summer vacation in the U.S.A! I've finally got some time to update my blog! Our summers in the U.S. are always fabulous but this year there are some really fun things on the agenda:

June 4 - Fly Singapore Airlines to Tokyo, then to L.A., then to Las Vegas...meet parents in Las Vegas and drive to St. George with Becky's parents (check!)
June 12- Becky, Bailey, Jack & Skylar drive to Provo in rental car (check!)
June 15 - Mike, Sammy & Carson drive to Provo with Becky's parents (check!)
June 13-16 - Bailey attends BYU soccer camp (check!)
June 18 - Mike & Sammy fly to San Francisco - Sammy stays with cousin Jessica; Mike flies on to Singapore
June 20-26 - Sammy attends girls camp in the mountains near San Fran. with cousin Jessica
June 20-24 - Carson attends BYU football camp
June 28 - Sammy flies back to Salt Lake City to hang with rest of fam in Provo
June 27-30 - Carson attends week 2 of BYU football camp
July 11 -20 - Fly to Seattle
July 20-27 - Family reunion in Preston, Idaho with Daynes fam
July 27 - Drive to San Diego
July 30 - Carson's baptism
August 10 - fly back to Singapore

We are 12 days into the fun and are having a blast! Will update when there's time...

Easter 2011

Easter was late this year...April 24!

Last year we spent Easter in tears all day b/c my dear friend Michelle passed away the day before. This year we had the Dimonds over on the one year anniversary of Michelle's passing as well as the day before Easter.

Easter Saturday we had an egg hunt and barbecue with our Singapore neighbors, the Stevens. They invited 4 families and we invited 4 families and we made it a big "block party."

10 families makes for a LOT of kids to find a LOT of eggs! There are lots of Singapore rules to take into consideration when having an egg hunt in Singapore:
1. The eggs must have wrapped candy in them or the ants will attack them in 2 seconds. 2. There can be no chocolate in the eggs or they will melt in 2 seconds.



Carson and Jack are ready:




Haley D. was the official Skylar watcher! These 2 have a special bond!


I found out recently that Norm likes durian - the official fruit of Singapore. So, since most of us had never tasted it I decided to have a durian while Norm was over.

We kept the durian out in the backyard until it was time to cut it because the smell is so bad. Instantly after cutting into it, the entire house smelled disgusting.

Man, it is disgusting!!! Beyond disgusting! Seriously, God has a sense of humor because I cannot figure out why he would create a fruit that is so nasty!




Mike and I both tasted it for the fist time. Norm suggested spreading it on crackers. We did that and I ate one bite and had to eat a brownie really quick to hide the taste of the durian.

Bailey and Sammy were not brave enough to try the fruit but some of their friends were...
Ashlyn was a good sport and thought it tasted like onion:

Lisel was excited to try it: I love the look on her face BEFORE:


Then the shock AFTER: (She ran to the bathroom and spit it out.) Smart girl.



The next morning was EASTER!!! Here's the excited gang running downstairs to see if the Easter bunny came...


Carson confirmed that HE CAME! The proof was right there by the back door of the kitchen: footprints shaped like a bunny's. I wonder why they taste like powdered sugar?











I love holidays and all of the traditions that help bring our family closer. Going to church on Easter Sunday as a family is one of those traditions, just like the egg hunt, the bunny and all the candy. Aren't they sweet in their Sunday best?

Happy Birthday to the main man!

So Mike's birthday was April 27, as usual. And, as usual, he celebrated in typical Mike Daynes style:

He planned it for his actual b-day, even though it wasn't a convenient day for us (Becky and the kids). That's what makes it sooo Mike!

Here's what the Master planned and how it all went down:

1. 9:16 am - golf (3 attendees). He shot two birdies.
2. 2:30 - 4:00pm - lunch at Carls Jr. (four attendees)
3. 5:00-7:00pm - Wave House (18 attendees)
4. 7:30 - 9:00pm - Chilis (24 attendees)
5. 9:50pm - Gold Class movie - Source Code (5 attendees)

Here's some photos of the fun:

We managed to throw in one surprise for Mike before he headed out on his day of fun. The kids and I made him some crepes for the traditional b-day brekky in bed. Mike wanted it on the floor of the TV room instead so we delivered it to him on a brand new skateboard!




The four oldest kiddos and I met up with Mike at Sentosa for stage 3 of the birthday celebration to do some surfing and boogie-boarding at the Wavehouse. This was the first time for the kids and Becky but Mike had been there once or twice before...

Here's Bailey shredding on the "surfboard" - it's actually the size of a skateboard:



Here's Mike rippin' it up on the Flow Rider:



Jack is still unsure of what he thinks of the Wavehouse. His face tells the story:


Sammy was tearing it up:


Then there was me (Becky) - the biggest natural boogie boarder of them all! Although my face doesn't show it I had a great time and thought the wavehouse was really fun!




We were all feeling the birthday love! We missed Skylar but she would have been sad that she was too short to boogie board...




We love our friends who came out on a school night to celebrate Mike's big day! Singapore besties are the best!!!


I don't have any photos from stage 4 but I did get this lovely one of Spencer and Mike relaxing before the start of the movie (stage 5). Once you start going to movies Gold Class you don't want to go back to boring theater seats. However, it's a lot harder to stay awake!


We had such a great day with our friends. The only thing that could've possibly made Mike's day better would have been to have some of our family there from the U.S!

I know I speak for all of us in the M.Daynes family when I say how much we love our dad/husband! He's the most fun-lovin', party dad ever and keeps us all entertained! A great, big, happy Hank Aaron b-day to our favorite guy in the world!